Down in the Dumps
by Kathryn0505
Summary: Pete and Myka try to make Claudia feel better about Todd.


**A/N: This isn't my usual type of story, but it was stuck in my head. How awesome was the episode Age Before Beauty? I loved it! This past episode was just okay.**

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Pete was on a mission to the kitchen. It had been a long day with the whole lockdown situation, and his stomach was screaming "cookies!" at him. With his favorite tasty treat in mind, he jogged down the stairs and turned the corner, only to notice Claudia sitting on the couch in silence.

"Hey, Claudia," he drew her name out. "What's up?" He paused for a moment to properly greet her, posed mid-stride in his dash to the Kingdom of Sweets.

Claudia unfolded her legs and stretched them out straight in front of her. She turned to face him briefly. "Just sitting here."

"Uh oh," Pete commented.

"Uh oh, what uh oh?" Claudia asked. Nothing good ever became of 'uh oh.'

"Todd," Pete nodded his head as though agreeing with himself. "You broke up."

"What? Dude, how could you even know that?"

"You have 'dumped' face," he remarked, coming over to stand beside her.

"What does 'dumped' face look like?" she asked, somewhere between upset over Todd and annoyed Pete had figured her out in less than a microsecond.

"Like what you're wearing right now. Trust me, I know that face. I've seen it in the mirror enough times, followed by some moping about over the totally hot girl that just couldn't handle all this," he gestured to himself.

Claudia let out a snort. "Yeah, okay." She pushed back a smile at his total 'Pete' nature.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked her in a more serious tone.

"No. I wasn't even sure I was into him," she deflected.

"It still sucks, though," Pete commented.

"It's whatever," she shrugged. "I couldn't even tell him about the warehouse, so where's the fun?" She paused for a moment before standing up. "I'm just gonna go upstairs."

"Okay. Have fun doing whatever geeky things you do up there," he teased, watching as she walked over to the stairs.

"Haha. Don't overdose on sugar," she called as she made her way up the staircase.

* * *

"Psssst, Myka," Pete called through her door, knocking softly. "Myyyyyka."

After a moment the door opened and Myka looked up at him. "What's going on?" She noted how he held himself and discerned that he probably wasn't there to annoy her for once.

He pushed his way past her and into her room before shutting the door behind him. "We have a situation."

"What?"

"Claudia. Todd dumped her." He made a face that she supposed conveyed "yikes."

"Awww. He was cute. What happened?" Myka turned around to take a seat on the bed.

"I don't know, she didn't want to talk about it." He came over and flopped next to her.

"So why are you looking so worried about it?" she asked. Sure, it was sad for Claudia, but she was tough. She'd bounce back.

"I remember my first dumping. It was brutal. Charlotte Pritchard. She and I used to sneak out and go make out in the park near my house."

Myka resisted the urge to roll her eyes at his heartbroken tone. "I'm sure you got over it."

"I couldn't walk through that park for months."

"I'm… sorry?" She had the feeling he was getting at something else.

"Go talk to her." He sat up suddenly to look her in the eye.

"What? Why me? She told you first."

"Yeah, but she didn't really want to talk about it to me. I think that's a girl discussion." Seeing Myka eyeing him doubtfully, he added, "She might want to talk about it, she might not. But you're the only one she can girl-talk to."

Myka let out a sigh. "Okay, I'll go talk to her. But if she doesn't want to talk about it, we leave her alone."

Pete held his hands up in surrender. "I accept your terms."

* * *

Myka debated whether she should go talk to Claudia or wait to see if Claudia came to her. But she realized quickly that Claudia would probably never do that, so she bit the bullet and went to knock on her door.

"Claudia?" she knocked on the door. She heard some shuffling around inside, and then a faint "come in."

Mya pushed the door open and saw Claudia sitting on her bed, legs pulled up to her chest. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Claudia looked up at her, and Myka thought she saw a slight sheen of tears. "Pete told you?"

"Yeah, but he was just worried in his clueless guy way," Myka smiled. She crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed beside Claudia.

Claudia took a deep breath. "Does it always suck this bad?"

"Pretty much. What did he say?" Myka asked her.

"Nothing. Just that he didn't think he could see me any more. I wish he'd given me a reason. I mean, yeah I know that I was a bit… absent because of the warehouse, but I'd really decided that I liked the guy." Claudia paused for a moment. "Do you think that I should talk to him? Maybe he just had a bad day."

"I don't know, Claudia. Maybe you should try, but sometimes you just need to go your separate ways. Sometimes it just doesn't work, even if you want it to."

Claudia brought a hand to her face to swipe at an errant tear. "Yeah, I guess. There are more people in the world."

"Exactly. Maybe you'll find someone else you click with better."

Claudia took a moment to blow her nose before looking up at Myka thoughtfully. "Thank you," she said, before reaching over to give Myka a brief hug.

"You're welcome," she hugged her back. "And if Todd gives you any more trouble, I'm sure Pete would beat him up for you."

Claudia let out a laugh before releasing her. She was feeling better already, despite Todd.


End file.
